REMASTERED VERSIONS of U2's first three albums were released yesterday to mixed sales reactions.
The three albums - Boy (1980), October (1981) and War (1983) - were digitally remastered from the original tapes following the success of the remastered edition of The Joshua Tree last year.
While sales of the CDs appeared slow in Dublin music shops HMV and Tower Records, manager of HMV on Grafton Street John Rooney said there had been strong initial sales, with people waiting outside the shop before it opened yesterday morning. He added that Boy was proving to be the most popular album with vinyl versions "selling really strongly which is fantastic".
This was echoed by manager of Tower Records Clive Branagan, who said, "U2 vinyl sales will do really well, especially considering there has been an increase in vinyl sales around the country".
Manager of Galway's Zhivago Sound and Vision Eugene Carroll said the store had sold only one copy of War and one of Boy, while manager of the Merchants Quay branch of Golden Discs in Cork David O'Donovan said sales were "not great".
Mr Donovan blamed the high costs for slow sales.
One customer in Tower Records in Dublin yesterday said he had bought the albums for his wife.
"Her birthday is on Monday. She is a huge fan of U2. She got the original tapes over 20 years ago."